4A.4b

Question 1

Why does decline occur

Answer 1

-Decline occurs sometimes due to deindustrialisation which then leads to unemployment and a spiral of economic decay

-Closure of factory -> long term unemployment -> brain drain -> housing falls into disrepair
(Negative cumulative causation model sequence )

Question 2

Give an example of a declining city in England + statistics

Answer 2

-Middlesbrough failed to cope with deindustrialisation with 20,000 people leaving since 1990
-The global recession saw many shops close as disposable income decreased
-The closure of SSI steelworks in Redcar has sparked further decline
The local unemployment rate is at 13% which is double the national average
30% of working age households have no one in employment
-10% of the wards in Middlesbrough are in the bottom 1% most deprived in the country

Question 3

What have the social impacts of this decline been

Answer 3

-The average house prices in the North Oremsbey area have dropped to £57,000 in March 2015 compared with the UK average £180,000
~This has allowed landlords to buy up property cheaply and rent them to recipients of housing benefits without maintaining them propitious
-The life expectancy is much lower than in the rest of the uk
-The effect of the decline on the built environment of Middlesbrough has been dramatic as whole streets of terraced housing has been boarded up . The cost of maintaining fly tipping has gone up by 10% in recent years
-An Ofsted report in 2014 found 1/3 of students attend schools that require improvement

Question 4

What does rust belt mean

Answer 4

Rust belt was a term coined in the 1980s in reference to the decline of powerful eastern Us manufacturing regions following the global shift

Question 5

Why has the rust belt declined

Answer 5

The rust belt has declined due to

• overseas companies producing cheaper coal and steal
• Mining companies being mechanised to cut costs
• Lower wage costs in SE USA leading to relocation ~ 80,000 jobs lost in Michigan whilst 90,000 were gained in Texas, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama

-Now the US coal industry only survives due to government subsidies that keep it going costing 1.96bn in 2014-15

Question 6

What has happened to the Rust belt region now

Answer 6

The rust belt region has undergone economic restructuring where high income primary jobs have been replaced with low income tertiary jobs e.g retail

Question 7

Where is an urban place that has been affected by the Rust Belt decline

Answer 7

Detroit Michigan has been heavily impacted by the Rust Belt decline

• It was once home for automobile manufacturing such as the General Motors base
• attempts for regeneration in the 1980s were unsuccessful so it fell into a spiral of decline following deindustrialisation
• There has been a 60% population decline since 1980 with 36.4% of the population below the poverty line
• there are over 70,000 abandoned buildings
• It experienced the largest municipality bankruptcy in US history with $162 million
• there is a 53/100,000 murder rate making it the most dangerous place in the US
• there has been a -26.6 population percentage change between 2000-2012 in Detroit

Question 8

What is an example of a rural place that has been affected by the decline and deindustrialisation

Answer 8

• Rural Beattyville , Kentucky is in coal country
• It has been affected by the decline of the coal industry which has caused many social issues
• In the 2012 census it came out as one of the poorest towns in America
• The median income is only $12,000 compared to a national average of $54,000
• Only 5% have college degrees
• The men’s life expectancy is 68.3 years - 8 years below US average